Austin materialized at their side. “Calm down, son.”
Prentice turned only his head to Austin. “Don’t call me son.”
“Prentice, really, don’t make a scene,” Elle put in sounding, if he could believe his ears, bored.
Prentice turned back to Elle. “We weren’t a lark.”
“Prentice –”
It was his turn to interrupt and his voice held an edge of steel coated with a sheen of deep emotion which, as much as he hated showing the weakness, he couldn’t quite control. “At least for me it wasn’t a lark.”
He wasn’t sure but he could have sworn Elle flinched.
He decided he was wrong when she calmly held his ring up between them.
Prentice didn’t take it.
Instead, he said, “When you’re away from him and you realize this is madness, you find me, you call me, you write me, I don’t give a f**k what you do.” He leaned into her and took her head in both hands feeling her body go solid when he moved an inch away from her face. His voice dipped low when he continued, “I’ll be pissed off, baby, and I’ll make you work for it. But I love you enough to get over it and take you back. I promise you that.”
“Prentice –” she said softly but he cut her off in the way he always stopped her from chattering.
He touched his mouth to hers.
Without a choice, as usual, Elle went quiet.
Prentice pulled away and looked into her eyes.
“I’ve had a good life; you know that,” he whispered, “Even so, you’re the best thing that’s been in it.”
He watched, up close, as she slowly closed her eyes, emotion washing over her face making her radiant.
That was his Elle.
Whatever this was, he’d made it through.
Thank Christ.
He kissed her forehead, let her go and, without a backward glance at her, or her father, Prentice walked away.
Chapter One
Romantic Fairytale Come Alive
Isabella
Twenty Years Later…
“This is so exciting,” Mikey cried from beside her in the limousine, practically jumping up and down in his seat.
Isabella looked out the windows thinking that this was absolutely, positively not exciting in the slightest.
She watched Prentice’s village slide by, happy the windows were tinted and no one could see in. The limousine, undoubtedly not a common vehicle to glide down the cobbled streets, was causing quite a stir and everyone was stopping to look.
She recognized more than one face.
Each recognized face caused her heart to contract and her breathing to go erratic.
She curled her fingers into her palms, tight, feeling her nails dig into the flesh painfully.